MISSOULA – In honor of national Banned Books Week Sept. 23-27, the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library at the University of Montana will post a series of videos featuring UM faculty, administrators and staff sharing their favorite banned books to its website.

The videos, produced by UM graduate student and School of Media Arts Adjunct Instructor Tom Stagg, introduce students to people who work on campus and the books they cherish. In the videos, UM employees speak from the heart about books they love and that have influenced them, and why students should read banned books.

A new video will be posted to the Mansfield Library website at http://www.lib.umt.edu each day of the week. Each video is about five minutes long, and books featured this year include “Looking for Alaska” by John Green, “Call of the Wild” by Jack London and “Where the Sidewalk Ends” by Shel Silverstein. Speakers are UM President Royce Engstrom, faculty members and staff from the admissions and advising offices.

“We hope this project serves as a catalyst for discussions between members of the campus community,” said Julie Biando Edwards, associate professor, ethnic studies librarian and diversity coordinator for the Mansfield Library. “We’re particularly excited that this project might prompt questions from students and that it might encourage them to reflect on their own favorite books.”

Banned Books Week provides an opportunity for UM students and faculty members to talk about the books that are important to them, and about what freedom of inquiry and freedom of access really mean. The annual week of recognition is sponsored by several organizations, including the American Library Association, American Society of Journalists and Authors and the National Council of Teachers of English.